Is the Universe Infinite?

Well, Is it?

 

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Why even ask a question that no one know the answer to?

There are theories BOTH ways - take your pick.:shrug:

 

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Infinite for all practical purposes

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Can you first define what do you mean by "infinite" and "universe" please...

 

What definition of 'universe' are we using?

 

My understanding is that the only one's who can properly speculate about that are described by BenTheMan in this post over in the Cosmology forum: http://www.sciforums.com/showpost.php?p=2474753&postcount=11

 

There is a clear distinction between someone who is speculating from a position of ignorance and one who is speculating from a position of authority. What many people fail to acknowledge is the vast difference between the former and the latter. In other words, one must not mistake science for a democracy.

QW: you can troll this thread again, and be banned. The choice is yours.

 

I was not trolling. If there is an answer to the OP, it has to be speculative. Speculation in the hard science forums like yours is not appropriate and so I considered the possibility of this thread being moved to Pseudoscience as a real possibility.

 

On the contrary, real speculation that has any merit whatsoever is best left to the hard science forums.

 

The Universe that I and you live in, and that began in the big bang.

Note to anyone that doesn't really want to discuss this.
Please go away now, or you will only upset yourselves.

 

You want the question of whether the Universe is infinite or not moved to pseudoscience:bugeye:


Is it the notion of infinity you want moved to pseudoscience, or only questions about the extent of the universe?

 

Sorry, but that's not a definition.
How about this:
Universe: The totality of all matter, energy and space in existence anywhere.

 

So you don't care about observability?

 

Eh, no. That would be the observable universe you're talking about.

 

That would do, I think.

@ Ben
Observable? Not sure. That's one of the concepts I find difficult.
When we see stars through the best telescopes as they were, say, 10 Billion years ago, are they 10 Billion light years away, or further than that because of the expansion of space.
I know the star itself may no longer exist, and that you are looking at it in the position it was 10 billion years ago.

 

Ben. Do you think it might be better to move this thread to astronomy and cosmology? It could equally go there.
For some reason it seems to be a subject which physicists feel is beneath them.

 

Yes, and there might be other regions which we are disconnected from.

 

Why do you say that?

Do you think that more people would comment on it in the other sub forum?

 

Perhaps, but in my view those regions are still part of the universe at large.

 

I don't know.
It's a subject which is so rich in points of debate that I thought it would provoke a heated response.

It is probably the first physics or cosmological problem which every intelligent child poses when they are told about space. Does it go on forever?

I did a quick search before posting it in case it had been done to death, but I couldn't find anything recent on sciforums which directly asked the question.